Dates:
April 3—27, 2006
Opening Reception:
Sunday, April 2, 1:30–2:30pm
Artist Talk:
Sunday April 23, 1:00–2:00pm
Location:
Seventh & Second Photo Gallery
Middle Collegiate Church
50 East 7th Street @ 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
212/477-0666
Hours:
Mon–Fri 10am-8pm; Sat 5:30–9pm; Sun 11pm-3pm
Artist's Statement:
“I decided to go to Cuba in
the spring of 2002 as a personal project of self discovery
and remembrance. I had known for some time that Cuba was
still my 1970s Puerto Rico; I had heard it from Pap’s
friends who had migrated from there some years back. I remember
their stories about Fidel, and about the hardships. But
mostly I remember their stories about daily life, and about
how close to my own upbringing it really was. With camera,
film, paper and pen in hand, I left for Cuba in search of
my past.
The present-day Cuban situation continues
to command headlines in the U.S. and abroad. Cuba, a living
monument to 1950s Americanism, has become a photographers
paradise with its old cars and its cities permanently caught
in time and space. It attracts tourists from all over the
world who come eager to experience life in a living museum.
Meanwhile, all around them, between the Mojitos and the
big fancy dinners atop the Hotel Presidente, the Cuban people
themselves try to eek out a living working the tobacco plantations
to the west, or as tourist guides to the hordes of rich
westerners. In Old Havana, buildings can suddenly crumble
under their own weight. This is Fidel’s Cuba, not
the Cuban people’s Cuba.
On the road, hand painted Che Guevara portraits
and writings like Venceremos!, We shall overcome! plaster
the side of buildings. Politics is everywhere, even as I
myself had found the Puerto Rico I had gone there to find
with its smell of burning wood or trash coming from back
yards; of children on the streets playing made-up games
with old tires and a stick; of the faces of a people who
have but themselves and a collapsing roof over their heads
to call their home; of farmers who still grow their own
sustenance and teach the young to do the same.
What follows, then,
is a series of images that are both a reflection of Cuba
and its people, and of my Puerto Rico. While I am eager
to return again to Cuba to continue my very personal journey
there, the current political climate between this land and
theirs makes it impossible to return for one moment to relive
such an enriching experience again."
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